Texas Tech went into the holiday break on a massive high, but now it’s back to work with the Big 12 Conference season just around the corner.
The 15th-ranked Red Raiders return to action on Sunday at home against Winthrop in one final tuneup before league play begins a week later.
Texas Tech (9-3) is entering its first game since registering the biggest nonconference victory of coach Grant McCasland’s three-year tenure. The Red Raiders stunned No. 3 Duke 82-81 at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 21, erasing a 17-point deficit with a late charge despite entering the game with three players out due to injuries and then having two foul out.
To claim the first win against a ranked foe this season after three losses and the program’s first vs. a top-five team since 2022, Texas Tech had to outscore the Blue Devils 46-35 in the second half.
Christian Anderson was huge to that cause with 27 points, bolstered by a huge second half (23 points). He knocked down four 3-pointers after halftime, part of Texas Tech’s about-face in that department (6 of 13) after it made only 1 of 9 in the opening 20 minutes.
Anderson and preseason All-American J.T. Toppin came up big in the comeback. Toppin was tagged was for his fourth foul with 15:09 left but never fouled out and finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
“You don’t get these games very often, and to get a gritty performance from our guys makes it special,” McCasland said. “Win or lose, I was thrilled with how we competed against a great Duke group. We found a way through a lot of adversity to win. To do it the way we did it gives our team a lot of belief. It was a remarkable fight from our team.”
Rekindling that energy after a seven-day break will be an important challenge against a well-tested Winthrop squad.
The Eagles (8-6) have tangled with two other power-conference teams, falling at both Arkansas and Nebraska in November, two of their seven road games. Neither loss was lopsided — 84-83 to the then-No. 23 Razorbacks and 80-73 against the Cornhuskers. That has been a trend for Winthrop: All six losses were by single digits, and five came on the road.
The Eagles are an experienced team, headlined by senior Logan Duncomb, who played two seasons at Indiana and sat out his lone season at Xavier. The 6-foot-10 center leads Winthrop with averages of 15.8 points and 7.5 rebounds a game, which balances out a high-octane offense built around the 3-point shot.
Just under half of the Eagles’ field-goal attempts come from beyond the 3-point arc — 420 of 906 — and three starters shoot 40.6% or better from deep. Kareem Rozier is the leader with 41 treys and is scoring 13.2 points a game. Daylen Berry has connected on 28 3-pointers and chips in with 12.9 points per game, and Kody Clouet 36 trey, fueling 12.1 points a contest.
With that outside-in attack as the fuel, Winthrop comes into the game averaging 90.3 points a game and is coming off a fifth game this season with 101 points or more.
Prior to the Duke victory, that might have been a huge concern for Texas Tech, which has been vulnerable on defense this season. But the Red Raiders showed signs of defensive improvement against the Blue Devils, especially in the second half.
After Duke carved Texas Tech up for 46 first-half points while going 7 of 14 from 3-point range, a makeshift Red Raiders lineup — a result of massive foul trouble — limited the Blue Devils to 35 points after halftime and 3 of 13 from beyond the arc.
